


And Thus With A Kiss - Goodnight

by thegoodthebadandthenerdy



Category: EOS 10 (Podcast)
Genre: A little, Banter, Character Study, First Kiss, M/M, Sleepovers, Sleepy Kisses, i think yall get where this is going, this is so dumb im sorry yall
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-20
Updated: 2018-08-20
Packaged: 2019-06-29 13:41:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15730554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegoodthebadandthenerdy/pseuds/thegoodthebadandthenerdy
Summary: Ryan had thought that by now he was too old forsparks. He was closer to 40 than 30, closer to comfortable domesticity, closer to…familiarity. Not sparks.





	And Thus With A Kiss - Goodnight

**Author's Note:**

> i recently relistened to the whole show in 2 day in prep for s3 and GOD do i love these two idiots, so i decided to contribute
> 
> titles a play on shakespeare bc im drafting this at 3am so yall cant hold anything against me

Ryan Dalias was a man of few pleasures. Baby/baby animal videos, Morpheus, maybe some gossip with Jane here and there, and sleep. 

Sleep.

If Ryan were to pick a sin to subscribe to for the rest of his natural life, it would be Sloth. Let him curl up in bed after a double shift, give him a good blanket, maybe some ambient noise, and he was out like a light. He didn't prescribe to that religion, though, so maybe that wasn't the best analogy?

Anyway, it remained that the thing was that some people just didn't appreciate the finer things in life as they stood. 

Which was why he immediately started cursing when there was a knock on his door in the middle of the night, somewhere between too late and too early.

He didn't even bother to open his eyes as he stumbled across his room, to the door, which was already slipping open in expectation of his approach.

"It is _oh. two. hundred_ ," he growled in a deadly tone, one eye starting to crack open. 

"Well hello to you, too, Doctor Dalias."

"Christ," Ryan huffed, eyes popping open to find Akmazian with a toothy grin and more than a few fresh scratches across his face.

His sleep-addled brain took a second to register the cuts, but Akmazian has the decency not to look too put out by that, and stand there until he did.

"What happened to you," he finally muttered, something akin to a morose tone in his voice. He didn't _need_ anymore 2am adventures, thank you very much.

"Well, funny story," Akmazian started, scratching at the back of his neck. _Oh so now he's bashful,_ Ryan thought begrudgingly. "Muriel took my pillow. And my blanket. And a pound of flesh- metaphorcially speaking or physically has yet to be determined."

"Muriel," Ryan repeated back. He didn't have enough brain power for this shit.

"Yeah, you know Muriel," Akmazian continued. "She-"

"Hold on," Ryan said, holding a hand up to stop him as his brain quickly shuffled things into place. "Did you name the dog sized rat you share a cargo bay with-"

"Of course I named her."

"But you named her Muriel." 

"Yes."

Ryan sighed.

"Why here, huh? What about me screams 'man wants middle of the night visitors'?"

"No offense, darlin' but it's not so much that you radiate hospitality, it's that I'd just rather not ask Nurse Johns to house me for fear of not waking up the same way I went to sleep."

He…had a valid point.

"Antiseptic's in the bathroom cabinet, go clean those before you get some ancient strain of fucking rabies or something."

"You're bedside manner is outstanding, doc."

"I'm gonna let Interface close you in the door," Ryan spat back, already turning on his heel. He scratched at the skin just above his pj bottoms as he climbed back into bed, tugging his pillow to his chest and letting his mind sink into a hissing static. 

He could hear Akmazian trying to be quiet as he shuffled around the bathroom. The squeak of the medicine cabinet, the click of his boots on the tile, the soft roar of the tap giving him away nevertheless. 

Finally he shuffled out of the bathroom, taking care to shut off the light before the door even opened, and asking Interface as quietly as possible to make sure the door closed behind him. 

Ryan could hear him heading toward the door, could hear the hydraulics whirring, even.

"Where're you going?" he demanded in a sleep-mussed voice.

"Oh, didn't know you were still with us, doc."

"Where're you going?" he repeated again, just for good measure, not because he couldn't remember if he'd already said it or anything.

"Well, you never actually invited me to stay, and contrary to popular belief, I can take a hint-"

"Just shut up and c'mon," Ryan groaned, "You talk so _much_."

Muffling a chuckle, Akmazian toed his boots off and shuffled over to where Ryan had a pillow outstretched to him.

"There's an extra blanket in the bottom of the nightstand if you need it," he explained, fingers alight from where they brushed Akmazian's, but his eyes still stubbornly closed.

When he didn't feel an immediate dip to the bed, he knew something was amiss.

"If I open my eyes," he began slowly, tone calculated. "And you're on the floor when there's a _perfectly_ good side of the bed just in front of you-"

"Darlin', if you're trying to seduce me it's working."

"Oh my god."

"But you should at least buy me dinner first, don't you think?" Akmazian asked, and one of Ryan's eyes was cracked open just enough to see the outlaw with his arms folded and rested on the side of the bed, his chin digging into his forearm, a dazzling, tired grin pulled across his mouth.

It did not make Ryan's heart pinch.

"Interface?"

"Yes, Ryan?"

"All right, all right, slow you're roll - I'm off the floor."

"Nevermind, Interface."

"Okay; goodnight, Ryan, I love you."

"Goodnight, Interface."

There was a small, palpable pause.

"Did your interface just say-"

"Don't acknowledge it."

Akmazian hmmed in acknowledgement of _that_ , wriggling around slightly on his - _temporary_ , Ryan chided to himself - side of the bed. 

His hair, for once, was loose of its usual braid. Blackened tresses starting to fade in vibrancy were splayed across Ryan's extra pillow. Gnarled with tangles, and seemingly permanently dented from the braid, it still held life of its own. 

Ryan had wondered, on more than one occasion, what the exact texture of it was. But then he'd promptly gotten rid of those thoughts because he really had enough on his plate as it was, y'know?

"Ah, Doc?"

"What is it, 'Maz?" Ryan murmured. 

"My eyes are down here," he said, and Ryan could hear that stupid grin in his voice. Bastard.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Ryan replied firmly, if not completely guiltily.

"Uh-huh," Akmazian assured. "Whatever you say."

"I don't!" he sputtered out. Eyes, still sticky with sleep, bouncing down to Akmazian's face. That silver scar that tore his warm brown skin from just above his eyebrow down to his mouth shifting with each new evolution of his smile. His eyes were alight with mirth, his lips twisting at the corners with that same secret.

 _Smug_ bastard.

"Wrong direction, don't you think?" Akmazian joked.

"Well, some of us aren't so brazen." 

Belatedly, Ryan realized the confession in his words. "Oh, fuck off," he added when a quiet laugh burbled at the back of Akmazian's throat.

"I don't know, that seems fairly brazen of you."

"I can still kick you out." He'd wanted that to sound like a promise, but if anything it fell like fuel on a fire.

Akmazian rolled slightly, positioning himself on his side, hands pillowed under the side of his face. "But you won't, will you, Doctor Dalias?" he said the moniker slowly, letting each letter wrap around tongue in a way that made Ryan's hands buzz.

Ryan Dalias was a man of few pleasures. Admittedly, he wouldn't mind beefing up that list just a little.

He'd had multiple dreams about situations that, oddly enough, were almost exactly like this moment. Hell, the only reason he knew this wasn't one of them was the hair. In his dreams it was always streaked with a little more gray, undented, _washed_.…

But still, every dream ended about the same. Embarrassingly. With his arms around Akmazian's middle, and his nose pressed into the back of his neck, and without the fear of ever having to explain himself to Jane hanging over him.

"You got a problem with my eyes?" Akmazian joked, and Ryan's cheeks would have burned once he realized he'd been staring at the mouth of the man across from him, if he'd had any shame left in him.

"'Cause-"

Without thinking about it, Ryan leaned forward, and slotted their mouths together.

Ryan had thought that by now he was too old for _sparks_. He was closer to 40 than 30, closer to comfortable domesticity, closer to…familiarity. Not sparks.

But there they were, quick fizzles sprouting between them. Embers, rather than a raging fire, but still enough that they could build and be more.

Akmazian made some kind of sound at the back of his throat, maybe surprise, and maybe agreement, but whatever it lead to his hand sweetly cupping the side of Ryan's face - still with pillow imprints, thank you very much - so he didn't care what it meant.

Ryan had forgotten about this. Forgotten how good it felt to have reliability under your palm, feel the thump of someone's heartbeat in a scenario that didn't involve, y'know, their literal heart in your hand. To kiss and be kissed like it meant something more than a quick tryst.

Somehow, it went from soft kisses to none, but the hand remained on his cheek, so he didn't feel an immediate reason for him to investigate the absence. Besides, he could still feel Akmazian's breath dusting his face.

"You should go to sleep," Akmazian mumbled, his voice rattling in his ribcage, reaching out and pressing against Ryan's palm where it was settled there.

He couldn't even protest, really. It was nice, finding that kindling and somehow knowing that it would survive the night, but he was dead tired. Maybe Jane wouldn't immediately bust down his door if he called off tomor- nope. She absolutely would, no reason to finish that train of thought.

"You should too. Body's best healing factor is sleep and all that."

"Yeah, whatever you say, doc."

And Ryan knew there'd be conversations to be had in the morning. That the man beside him would have to sneak off to a cargo bay, that he, himself, would have to go to work. That there were a thousand and one threats hanging above them. 

But for a few moments, it was all gone. Replaced by almost-synched breathing, and fingertips touching fingertips.

In the end, it was Akmazian's arm slung over him, and his head curled into his shoulder, but it wasn't bad. 

Definitely something to add to the list, allinall.

**Author's Note:**

> im on tumblr @desertrosetico where i am indeed always yelling abt them and always taking requests!!


End file.
